Five effective ways to deal with anger and depression

 Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
- Mark Twain

Talk about hitting the nail on the head! And yet, anger is a normal and natural human emotion like any other. You’ve felt it. I’ve felt it. Even the three-year-old next door has felt it! But, how serious is it? Can you let go of your anger? Or, does it make you anxious and depressed?

Ordinarily, one does not need to go to therapy to deal with anger problems. It is something we just deal with in our day-to-day lives.The question of anger management and seeking help, generally, arises only when it leads to violence and perceptible harm. It would, of course, be better to stem the emotion before it reaches such destructive levels.

Anger today depression tomorrow
When you look around you today, chances are that you will see serious, angry and frustrated faces. Almost everyone looks like they are Atlas - carrying the burden of the world on their shoulders. Many people are depressed as well. This may or may not show on the face, but, with modern day pressure cooker environments, it is getting harder and harder to mask.

Clearly, it is time to step back and learn how to deal with depression and anger. The most obvious thing to do is to first identify the source of your depression and anger.
•    Are you fatigued?
•    Is work bogging you down?
•    Are health concerns making you short-tempered?
•    Are bad finances keeping you on edge?
There are so many possible sparks. Once you pinpoint the one that is bothering you, you can get down to addressing and fixing it.

Five ideas to control your anger and related problems

1.    Take time out.
Get away from the trigger of your bad feelings and emotions. It could be your boss, friend, family or a situation. Take a walk, listen to music, sleep or pray - whatever trick works for you. It will throw up a new perspective that will help calm you.

You could also slowly count to 20 when provoked.It will help compose your thoughts before you react. This will stop you from saying or committing some unforgivable statements or actions. If you are the amnesiac sorts, you might forget the issue by the time you reach 16!If not, you will still have avoided saying the first rash remarks that occurred to you!

2.    Give up the need for perfection and being right.
Have you noticed angry people? Many of them may well be perfectionists who cannot accept a spot or blemish in their work or life. Nothing is ever good enough.Surrender this notion of perfection. By no means must you be lax in your efforts at doing anything, but don’t lay undue stress on the outcome.Give it your best shot and let go. This will help resolve your anger problems and make life easier for those around you.

3.    Spend time with nature.
There is something to be said about the vastness of the mountains and the oceans that puts us in our place. It teaches humility and reverence; it subdues the aggressive and soothes the anxious.

Poet William Wordsworth had once hailed the power of nature in awakening the higher thoughts within. The uplifting elements of nature can greatly help in dealing with your anger problems. So take off for the mountains – use the greens to shake off the blues!

4.    Control your diet.
What comes out of you is a result of what has gone in. You are, after all, what you eat. So stay away from food items that contribute ruffling your feathers.
•    Avoid products with caffeine (for example, coffee and chocolate) as they make you restless and irritable.
•    Also stay away from fried products and sweet dishes.They lead to weight gain, tiredness and loss of energy in the long run.
•    To practice effective anger management, it will help to eat fresh vegetables, fruits and other cereals at regular intervals.
An irregular and inadequate diet can, after all, cause tempers to flare up.

5.    Engage in spirituality.
Most of us have some level of aggression that must be channelized properly. To control anger, you have to tame the wild spirit in you.Spirituality achieves this and more.
•    A few rounds of Surya Namaskars or Sun Salutations will shake off the morning sluggishness and induce a positive energy in you. Yoga asanas energize and relax simultaneously. This will help ward off anger and depression originating from weariness.
•    Anger emanates from regret relating to the past or worry relating to the future. What meditation does is that it keeps you in the present. Make time for20 minutes of meditation to de-clutter your mind and calm those frayed nerves.
•    It also helps to do seva or service to others. Anger and depression come from constantly trying to please yourself. Doing seva takes you out of your parochial existence.It thrusts you into a broader space where higher thoughts take birth. Anger and depression will, then, languish and die a natural death.
•    Pranayamas ensure that all the cells of your body get fresh oxygen. They help fill you with a calm energy that keeps you unaffected by life’s challenges.

Interestingly, not all anger is bad or unwarranted. If you use your anger to fuel a change in society by, say, standing up for the downtrodden, it is well-worth being angry! Similarly, it may be necessary for a parent to display anger to discipline a child to effect a critical change.

All the same, it is important to not to allow anger to overwhelm you. It should run its course without affecting your words or actions. Don’t hold on to it or fixate on getting rid of it. You can then be comfortable with the emotion.After all, remember that it does not control you, you control it!

Natural Farming Benefits Farmers to bring Light in their Life

Sustainable development is one of the traditional economy of India. Farmers borrowed the ideas from the west and forgot the concept of natural farming.

Now a days hybrid seeds are the product of modern agriculture. Farmers became habituated of buying these expensive seeds with increased investment in fertilisers and pesticides leaving themselves in huge debt as well as infertile soil.

Awareness needed against this desi seeds for not the production and use. The seeds need less water and maintains the fertility of the soil with a lesser investment in pesticides. The excessive use of the seeds damage the soil quality and increase the burden of debt on farmers.

So we are here to bring awareness about these seeds which are not good for the health and future generation. We see many indigenous variety of seeds are missing from the modern world, we want everyone to use these different varieties of seeds and bring awareness to most of the farmers about the practices of natural farming.

These are inspiration talks observed from Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar teaching on sustainability living on natural farming. We need to reach more and more farmers in passing years and make his efforts true to favour farmer prosperous economy in the future.

Sri Sri's Tips on food habbits

Tips by Sri Sri Ravi shankar Guruji on Food Habbits to be followed:

You know the white sugar is termed as white poison in western countries. As it stops the nutrients from being absorbed by the body. The children who consume a lot of sugar are mostly lean because of lack of nutrition. If you stop giving them sugar, they will start getting healthier. We eat a lot of sugar and reduce our body growth as well. So
instead of white sugar you should start consuming cane sugar (edit: jaggery is great if cane sugar is not available) which is in turn good for the body. It helps the liver as it has minerals.
The only difference that you may notice is that gulab jamuns would look much darker and jalebis would be of a different color!!! It does not matter.
Similarly we need to learn breathing practices to keep our body healthy and
earn meditation to get peace of mind and these things are very much
essential for life. We should have knowledge and awareness on meditation,
breathing practices and food.
After 30 -32 years everyone should take 3 Triphala tablets at night. (edit: I take 1 almost everyday, if not feeling too good in stomach, take 2-3) It
sets right all the three doshas, vata, pitha and kapha in the body. . It eliminates toxins from the body. Even if there is a problem with the food, Triphala clears the stomach and helps in good elimination the next morning. It also maximizes anti- oxidization in the body. All of you should take “Triphala” and you can see the effect in your body within 5 to 7 days.
Devavati is a good cure for amebiosis and other diseases caused by change in food and water. It is harmless and everyone must carry Devavati with them wherever they go. It replaces antibiotics like Flagyl and others. Two to three “Deva Vati” can cure almost every minor and many major ailments.
In India , what ever we prepare we add turmeric in it. You know why? Because of its anti-oxidant properties and it has medicinal value. In 1980, we called upon scientists for a conference in Delhi . When asked about the use of turmeric, they said it is just a color pigment without any value. Today the foreigners say turmeric is an antioxidant and it can give immunization against Cancer and we still do not understand its real value.
In Tamil Nadu we add turmeric in the pickles, especially the lemon pickles. Turmeric means Goddess Devi. She is incarnation of lemon, turmeric, and neem. All the three plants are considered sacred in our country and they all give good energy to our body.
If we grow lemon and tulsi in each and every house we can have good health in our country.
You know in our country there is a shortfall in the production of pulses. We are importing nearly 40% of the pulses and if this continues we will not have sufficient food In the future. So we have to plant pulses in our home gardens and our women can do it.
My Grandmother was in Papanasam even at the age of 92 years she used to do
things for herself and she had a good system of eating. Like, eating Agathi Keerai , on every “Dwadesi” day ( The day after Ekadesi Fasting (edit: Fast on at least a few Ekadashis every year, Ekadashi is the 11th day of the waxing moon)) and she used to take two kinds of vegetables . She had laid rules for herself and hence had a lot of energy. In the next generation the energy level came down and now in our generation it is getting lower.
One more interesting thing you should know is our Idly is considered to be one of the most nutritious food in the World. Because it contains carbohydrates, proteins,
enzymes, fats, amino acids and fiber. Idly is said to be a complete food… that’s nice to know dont you think so?
Every one should consume ghee (edit: in moderation). Ghee helps the body to absorb nutrients.